Improvement in shirts



C. 4.l. KASKEL.

-Improvement ink Shirts.

No. 130,056. Patented July 3o, 1872.

'EM 6, N7/W5 I clEsAE J. KAsIrEL, or NEw YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHIRT.

1 Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 130,056, dated July 30, 1872.

SPECIFICATION.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, CAISAR J. KAsKEL, of

` New York city, in-the State of New York, have invented certain new andluseful Improvements in Shirt-Bosoms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had vto the accompanying drawing making part of this application;

As is well known to the shirt-maker, (or manufacturer,) one of the most serious troubles,

` if not the greatest difficulty, encountered in producing a satisfactorily-fitting shirt is in overcoming the tendency of the bosom of the shirt to break or crinkle crosswise, (during the sitting or other posture assumed by the wearer in which` thetbody is bent forward,) and thereby soon lose its neat appearance. As the upper and lower extremities of the stifi'ened bosom are held at comparatively fixed points, (one by the shirt-neck band, the other by the waistband of the pants,) or kept distended-when the body ofthe person is erect, it follows,.as a matter of course, that every time the personstoops over, or assumes a sitting or other posture in which these two points are brought nearer together, the s tiffiy-starched and smoothly-ironed bosom must bend or buckle over at some intermediate point, and it is this successive bending (indiscriminately) which soon breaks up and destroys the smoothness of the bosom. When a vest is worn with the shirt the evil alluded to is augmented, since a great portion of the bosom being then more or less held against or confined toward i the body of the person (by the vest) the buckling up of the bosom will nearly all occur in the exposed or upper unconiined portion, and

this, with the obstruction which thcvest pre- Y sents to a resumption of the distended condition, will generally induce to a quicker and more thorough mutilation or crinkling up of thebosom.

Since it is impossible, or at least impracticable, to prevent the 4bosom from bending and buckling over to `some extent every time the body is bent, the only remedy to be applied is one by the use of which the bending or buckling over of the bosom shall be so regulated as to induce to the least possible amount of damage to the bosom, and keep smooth that part which is exposed to view; and for this `reason it has been heretofore proposed to confine or limit this buckling or bending to the lower portionof the bosom by making the bosom so much thickeror stiffer along about two-thirds or three-quarters of its length than along the remainder as to insure that the bending shall occur somewhere in the more flexible lower portion, leaving the upper exposed and stiffer portion comparatively undefaced.

Shirt-bosoms have also been made tapering in contour, wide at the top and gradually reduced in width toward the lower extremity, so that the narrower (lower) and consequently weaker portion would bend rst, leaving the wider exposed portion uninjured; but in practice it has been found that these methods for overcoming the evil alluded to are not fully efficient, it frequently occurring that the remedy which might be partially ei'ective in one instance would entirely fail in another case, (where the person was of adift'erent shape or habit,) and because the rumpling up or indiscriminate buckling over of the bosom throughout the more flexible or weaker portion is very objectionable. p

I propose, by my invention, to apply a new remedy, the peculiarities of which are that it varies in its application according to the shape of the person to whom the shirt is to be tted, and determines the precise locality at which the bosom shall fold or bend. I have found, by observation and experiment, that with persons of different shapes the tendency to fold or buckle in the bosom occurs at different localities; and that if there be supplied any auxiliary inducement to this tendency to bend at said localities the buckling or folding can be restricted to a given point, and predetermined in each case, (and can be always fixed below that part of the bosom which is generally exposed to view.)

Having as its object to fix the line at which the bosom shall buckle or hinge, according 'to the shape of the person, my invention consists in making the bosom of ashirt with a narrow belt or portion, located where it is designed to have the bend or fold in the bosom occur, and so composed oi' a lessnumber of thicknesses or otherwise so made that when the whole bosom is laundried this belt or strip (which is to form the hinge, so to speak) shall ENIGE bc much more flexible than any other part of the bosom, whereby I am enabled to regulate and determine, in every instance, the line or precise locality at which the buckling shall occur, and insure the maintenanceoi" that part of the bosom which is generally exposed to View in an uninjured condition, all as hereinafter explained.

Toenablc those skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will describe by rei'- erence to the accompanying drawing some of the best modes of carrying out my invention.

At Figs. land 2 are illustrated, in face or plan view and vertical section, a shirt-bosom made according to my invention, and at Figs. 3 and 4 are illustrated, in similar views, another mode of carrying out the same. The narrow strip orbelt embraced 'between the horizontal dotted lines in Figs. l and 3 represents that portion of the bosom which is made quite flexible to insure the bending along in this belt, or to constitute a sort of hinge to the bosom, and this belt or flexible portion should be located according to the shape of the wearer, and at that point between the upper and lower extremities of the bosom at which would exist the greatest tendency to bend or buckle. In a shirt for a person of i'ull habit this hinge portion or belt should be located much higher up than in one for a slender man. The location of the tlexible belt or strip must in each case be determined according to the iigure of the person, and in the judgment of the experienced shirt-maker who takes the measure.

I propose to have the flexible strip or belt generally about from three-eighths to threequarters of an inch in width. The exact width of this flexible strip or portion is not, however, important, and may be Varied as circumstances may require or experience suggest. To produce the flexible band or strip in the bosom, I propose to have this part formed of fewer thicknesses of material, either as seen at Figs. l and 2, where the middle or interposed piece c is cut away at b to leave only the outer and back layers of the stuff, (the edges of the cut-out layer c being stitched to the backing of the bosom,) or as seen at Figs. 3 and 4, where both the backing and the intermediate thickness of the muslin are cut away and stitched together, leaving only the face or front thickness ofthe bosom. By thus forming the belt or strip of one or two thick nesses, while the rest ofthe bosom below and above is composed `of a greater number of thicknesses, the thin portion or belt will be quite ilexible after the shirt shall have been laundried, while the rest of the bosom will be quitestili', but the methods shown for producing the flexible belt or hinged strip at the required locality to insure the buckling ofthe.

bosom at such point only are not indispensable to the carrying out of my invention, the gist of which rests in the idea of having the bosom made with a narrow belt or line located at the point where it is intended the bosom shall buckle over or fold, and so that the bosom above and below this flexible strip shall `be kept in a comparatively smooth or unruinling smooth and in place the upper portion of the bosom, though it, of course, entirely defaces that portion which is broken down to form the fold or hinge-like strip. It will be understood that by making the bosom with a strip or belt of much greater flexibility than the rest, and locating this iiexible portion properly lin relation to the .upper and lower portions, according to the shape of the person, the bosom will buckle or -bend at the ilexible strip, and when distended again as the person assumes an erect position, will not present a rumpled-up or crinkled appearance.

Having so fully explained my invention that the skilled manufacturer or shirt-maker can make and use it, and wishing it to be understood that my invention may be carried out in other ways than those shown, and may be applied to other kinds of shirt-bosoms, what I claim as new, and desire to secure'by Letters Patent, is-

A shirt-bosom having a flexible belt or strip located to operate substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 10th day of July, 1872.

GZESAR J. KASKEL. lL. s.]

Vitnesses:

J. N. MAGINTIRE, J. FELBEL. 

